A contract signed by a labor union and s southeastern municipality says all male workers will be stripped of their rights if they marry a second wife, or marry their daughter off before she is 18

This file photo shows a protest against male-violence. If a male worker uses physical and economic violence agaist a woman, all his economic rights in the agreement will be transferred to his wife, the contract says. DHA photo

A contract signed by Mardin’s Nusaybin Municipality and a labor union says that workers will be stripped of their rights if they marry a second wife, have a mistress or marry their daughter off before she reaches age 18.

A collective labor agreement signed between the Nusaybin Municipality and a local labor union, Tüm-Bel-Sen, included an article that aimed to bring an end to domestic violence.

Tüm-Bel-Sen signed a 28-article collective agreement with the Nusaybin Municipality, a speaker for the union, Doğan Altun said. Upon a demand from the mayor, Ayşe Gökkan, an additional article “fighting against domestic violence” was added to the “other rights and leaves with pay” section of the agreement, Altun said.

Stripped of rights in case of violation

“This article reads, ‘in cases of adultery, marrying a second wife, berdel [the exchange of wives] and underage marriages, our male workers will be stripped from all their rights as stated in the agreement.’ It is very important for a mayor, who respects human rights and women’s rights, to write that. I thank our mayor for it,” Altun said.

“If a male worker uses physical and economic violence agaist a woman, all his economic rights in the agreement will be transferred to his wife. Also, within this article, all our female colleagues will have be granted leave with pay on Nov. 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and March 8 International Women’s Day. Also, parents who do not send their daughters to school cannot benefit from the collective agreement,” Altun said.

Nusaybin Mayor Gökkan said as the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) municipalities, they placed women’s issues in politics in a high importance. Gökkan indicated that women constituted half of society and that the party was trying to adopt a woman’s point of view in their services.

“With all the laborers, we have determined many common routes in fighting against domestic violence and we’ve included these in our agreements. In Turkey, violence against women always continues in disguised means. We also regard adultery as a form of polygamy, just like marrying a second wife. It is thought that murders done for love or passion were normal, but honor and customs were only peculiar to a certain region. So, we’ve added all forms of this violence to the agreement,” Gökkan said.